New Florida GOP chair Joe Gruters: 'This is the party of Donald Trump'

Joe Gruters was elected chairman of the Florida Republican Party on Saturday at a meeting in Orlando. (Stevn Lemongello / Orlando Sentinel)

Joe Gruters declared the state GOP “the party of Donald Trump” after he was overwhelming elected chairman by party officials on Saturday.

“And it’s now the party of Ron DeSantis,” added Gruters, a state senator from Sarasota who won with 88 percent of the vote over the lone challenger, Bob Starr of Charlotte County.

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DeSantis, whose victory in the governor’s race came after a primary endorsement by Trump, was the star of the annual party meeting at the Rosen Centre in Orlando.

DeSantis earned cheers from party leaders after his whirlwind first week in office for not only his removal of the Democratic sheriff of Broward County, Scott Israel, but his call for the resignations of the entire South Florida Water Management District appointed by his GOP predecessor, now-U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.

“I get a kick out of people being surprised – ‘I’m surprised he’s doing this, and doing this’ – because I think people get so used to people running campaigns saying whatever it takes to get elected, and as soon as they get in there, they act as if none of that ever happened,” DeSantis said.

The governor said his call for new members on the water board will allow him to apply a “new, fresh perspective” to environmental issues, which also included a call for a ban on fracking for oil and gas in Florida.

DeSantis said he joined in the pardoning of the Groveland Four, a group of four black men accused of rape in Lake County in 1949, because “when I see the Constitution not followed, I take action.”

He also said his removal of Israel, who had come under harsh criticism for his department’s handling of the February 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, was a warning to county officials across the state, both Democrat and Republican.

“When I see local officials who are negligent in their duties, or incompetent, I exercise my power under the law to suspend those officials,” DeSantis said. “And we saw that, yes, yesterday with Sheriff Israel … [But] this was not just me going down because Broward is a blue county, trying to remove a liberal sheriff.”

On the same day, he said, “I removed the superintendent of schools in one of our reddest counties, Okaloosa County.” Mary Beth Jackson had been accused on mishandling child abuse investigations.

“I’m showing Floridians I’m not shy about acting,” DeSantis said. “And it’s quite frankly a shot across the bow at other local officials to know there are going to be consequences if you consistently let us down.”

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Pensacola, also spoke amid what on Saturday became the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

While some Republicans have said Trump’s demand for a wall is a metaphor for border security, Gaetz said “we will build a physical barrier across the southern border with Mexico. … A hard, physical barrier on that border is not a luxury.”

Gruters,a former Trump campaign chair in Florida, noted that former Trump primary opponent Marco Rubio was in attendance Saturday.

“What you saw here was the party coming together, healing itself, and I think we’re going to be united moving forward in our efforts to make sure we have everything ready to go to be successful in 2020. Donald Trump can’t win the presidency without winning Florida,’’ Gruters said, who took over the GOP chairmanship from Rep. Blaise Ingoglia.

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Gruters also downplayed reports of tension between the camps of DeSantis and Scott, who did not attend the meeting.

“During any transition, toes get stepped on a little bit,” Gruters said. “But at the end of the day, they’re both principled conservatives, and they’ll both respect and support each other. … Time will heal all.”